They're in the Truck

The banner on the gym wall says Waite Park Community School. Minneapolis. Primary day. Under the basketball hoop, a woman in a City of Minneapolis shirt, an “I Voted” sticker, and a button that reads “Pregúnteme. Yo hablo Español,” is checking someone in.

The name given is Kami. The address given is on Cleveland Avenue Northeast. She says she just moved. The worker finds the registration. “Got you here.”

Then the questions, and the answers are not hedged. What is required? The worker’s account is that she is already pre-registered, and then she votes. Does she need ID? “Nope. No ID needed.” “She does not need ID.”

The person in the covering says they live with seven other people. Can they register? A second worker, green hair, takes that one. If you live with them, you can vouch for them. You can vouch for up to eight. After eight, you can’t vouch any more today. Tomorrow, election day is over. What if some of them do not live with you? If you know them personally, and you know they live in this precinct. Not the neighborhood. The precinct. There are specific boundaries. And no ID. The worker says that is correct.

The questioner runs it back. She votes today. The others vote today. No ID. The worker says right. What does the paper actually do? She says you are signing a legal oath that you know them and that they live in the area, and they are signing an oath that they are who they say they are and that they are allowed to vote here today. They live in the area. They are U.S. citizens. They are at least 18. Does anyone check? “They do check it. After the fact.”

Then the truck. Go get the seven. They are in the truck. Bring them, and they vote today, no ID, just the thing they sign. She says yeah, that’s correct.

That cap is the statute. Minn. Stat. § 201.061 says a voter registered in the precinct may sign up to eight proof-of-residence oaths on election day. The oath is that the voucher personally knows the person lives in the precinct. Someone who was vouched for that day cannot turn around and vouch for anyone else. The secretary of state’s election-day sheet prints the same rule and the same number: eight. Already-registered voters in Minnesota are not asked for a photo ID at the table. She stated the ordinary rule, and then she stated the vouching rule, and then she said the truck was fine.

What this exchange does not show is the line Secretary of State Steve Simon added after the tapes were up. Vouching, he told KSTP, only establishes the address. The person being vouched for still has to give a Minnesota driver’s license or state ID number, or the last four digits of a Social Security number. He called that “something you don’t see on the video.” Asked whether someone could still get through, cast a ballot, and have it count, he said yes. The check he is describing is the one the judge already named. After the fact. His office’s figure for 2024 is that under 0.6 percent of voters were vouched for. That is a rate. It is not an ID.

This stop is one of the Minneapolis polling places James O’Keefe’s group walked into on August 11, dressed for the test, asking the question on camera. He later called the site White Park. The banner in the gym says Waite Park. MPR reported that the group did not cast ballots in the video they posted. On October 28, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty charged O’Keefe and Cam Higby with identity theft and unlawful voting. She said they gave poll workers the names of real registered voters and started the vouching process. The stop local stations described in the complaint was a different school, Pratt Elementary, and the name William Pomeranz. O’Keefe’s group said they stated a name, asked how vouching works, and did not apply for or deposit a ballot. The tape from this gym ends where the judge says the truck is fine.

Nobody in this exchange produces eight voters. Nobody hands over a ballot. The thing she confirmed, out loud, under the hoop, is the rule as she was willing to apply it: one registered voter, eight people, no ID on the table, an oath, and a check that happens after the ballot is in. They’re in the truck. That’s correct.